The Rebel
by Feuer Drache 99
Summary: The LEP think Artemis has been stealing some of the silver and gold from their mines, but he hasn't, and, as of late, has been recieving strange letters from one T. S. who might be a suspect. Who is this person, and could it be the culprit?
1. Default Chapter

"Captain Short! Get in here!!"  
  
Holly groaned and walked into Root's office. "Yes, Commander?" she sighed, and saluted to him.  
"There has been some silver and traces of gold missing from the mines, and we have the main suspect..."  
"Don't tell me, Fowl, right?"  
"Yes. And you are supposed to go check it out... Oh, and someone is going to go with you, too. It could be dangerous."  
Holly desperately pleaded in her mind that it wasn't Chix Verbil or some other moron like him.  
"Lt. Zane Sanders is to go with you, Captain."  
Holly rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, Commander," and left to go find the lieutenant.   
  
She arrived at the boy's house, and rapped on the door twice. "Huh? Who is it?"  
Holly heard from inside as the door opened, revealing Lieutenant Zane Sanders, a boy around her age, with spiky blonde hair, and sharp, green eyes; wearing the green t-shirt and dark green cargo shorts he had to wear in the LEP. "Oh, uh, hi, Holly...hehe."   
He turned a nice shade of pink, for he was extremely shy, especially around Holly (and girls in general, for that matter). "Listen, Sanders, we have to go investigate Fowl's house again."  
"Oh joy," he replied sarcastically, even though he still was that shade of red when talking to Holly.  
"C'mon, let's go."  
They reached Fowl Manor in about forty-five minutes, and walked up to the door. Holly thumped the doorknocker, and Butler quickly answered.   
"Oh, hello, Holly. I'll go get Master Artemis."   
"Who's that?" Zane whispered when Butler had left.   
"Oh, that's what Butler calls the annoying little MudBoy over there."  
"What have you accused me of this time?" Artemis queried, striding up to the two fairies.   
"Well, the LEP think you've been stealing silver and gold from our mines,"  
Holly stated matter-of-factly to Artemis, who raised an eyebrow about half a centimeter.  
"Oh, they do, do they? Well, yet another accusation of the innocent proved wrong."  
Holly gave him a questioning look.   
"Really? Do you know of anyone who might be a suspect then?" Artemis shook his head, saying,   
"I did get this in the mail yesterday, however." He handed her a navy blue envelope with the initials T. S. in fancy silver letters on the front. She carefully opened it, revealing a letter of the same color paper, written in silver also. Holly read it aloud to the two:  
  
Mr. Fowl,  
  
I will pay you an exact sum of 1,000,000 dollars, no matter which currency, if you will join me in my quest in decimating the Lower Elements Police and all of Underground Haven.  
You must collect me three items, however, before I will pay you. The first is simple to obtain: One diamond without any impurities.  
  
The second is a bit more difficult: One vile of a fairy's magic. (Clue: Ask Foaly. He will know.)  
  
And the third and final object, the hardest of all: A feather of a rare black golden eagle. You will not find one out in the wild, they are only bred in captivity, and they might just happen to have one at the laboratory, scientists are currently running tests on the uncommon eagle.   
  
Best regards,   
T. S.  
  
"Well?" Zane asked, shattering the short silence that had blanketed the three after Holly had finished. Holly just stared ahead blankly, not breaking out of the dazed state she was in. "Captain? Hello?? Anyone home?" Zane asked, waving a hand in front of Holly's face. She instantly snapped back to reality, looking around surprised, asking, "Huh? Wha? What happened??"  
"Um, Captain? Are you ok?"   
"Yeah, I think so."  
"Alright then," Artemis nodded once, and continued, "You may take that down to Foaly and have him examine it, but please do not tear it or throw it away. Got it?"  
Holly nodded, and Zane just stared at Artemis, thinking, 'Woah, he's weird...'  
"Ok, Sanders, let's go now."   
"'Kay, Captain."   
So they left the manor.  
  
Holly and Zane went straight to their Commander's office and showed him the letter when they arrived back at Haven's LEP office building. "Well, now what, sir?" Holly asked Root when he had sighed deeply upon finishing the letter. "I don't know, Captain. If Fowl accepts, then we're doomed. If - Wait a minute, Captain. Give me the letter again," he asked, and Holly gave it to him. "Look at these initials..." He rolled his eyes and glared at Sanders who wasn't paying attention whatsoever and was messing with the zipper on the front of his shirt. "PAY ATTENTION, SANDERS!!" Root roared, and Zane about jumped six feet in the air, and when he landed, immediately snapped to attention and saluted. Root huffed and, a bit more calmly, (if you could call that calm) said to Zane, "At ease, soldier." Zane relaxed as his Commander turned to Holly and said, "As I was saying, look at the initials, don't they look familiar, Short?" Holly nodded, and he continued. "Don't we know about the person those initials might belong to?" Holly gasped with a knowing look in her eyes, and Root nodded, saying approvingly, "Mm-hm. That's right, Captain Short." 


	2. Chapter Two

Artemis sat at his computer, researching some Internet files on the initials T. S. but finding nothing. "Well, I might as well get to work collecting those items..." he sighed, putting his computer to sleep and getting up from the chair. He flicked off the lights of his study, glanced back before closing the door, and thought he saw the faint red light of a camera. He shrugged it off and headed downstairs for dinner.   
  
Meanwhile, underground, Foaly was researching the computer's database files on all the criminals of Haven, and saw a lot of names with the initials T. S., as in: Tanya Stanchovich, Tom Stanli, Tora Stanli, (brother/sister crime team) and Tayara Salyinia (pronounced SAL-in-ee-a), but the one that really caught his eye was the most notorious fairy in all of the Underground: Terra Stailer. She had few friends, and was almost always by herself. Her eyes never changed, they stayed the same color all the time: Black. Cold, dark eyes, black as night, they were uncommon in fairies, although a special few had them. She had been a renegade fairy, always causing trouble and stealing something valuable from the bank or safe. The LEP had kept very close watch on her, but she was always had been one step ahead, hiding somewhere else right before they found her. It was very frustrating sometimes, but she had mysteriously disappeared from Haven about six years ago, and no one knew why. There had never been a word spoken about Terra since, although the People were always on the lookout for her return. This mysterious letter had aroused Foaly's curiosity about Terra's disappearance, and he read it with interest. He spoke to himself in mystified tones, saying, "Hmmm, so they need a perfect diamond, fairy's magic, and a black eagle's feather? Well, here it says that I would know about the vile of magic, and what a coincidence, I do happen to have some in my lab. How odd that they would know about my experiments in magic and potions... Anyway, I'll have to do something about that soon." He read the letter one last time before he set off to tell the Commander the new information, not noticing the almost inaudible blip of a camera upon closing the door behind him.   
*~*Somewhere deep inside a mountain...*~*  
  
"Well, you think you know who it is, don't you Foaly? You may be right, but I am a lot stronger now than I was six years ago..." The dark voice cackled insanely and gradually died away, leaving the presence of danger and death behind... 


	3. Chapter Three

Artemis sat in the dull, white waiting room, watching the secretary hustle and bustle to the busy schedule of the day. He glanced at his watch, sighing. Just then, a woman in a white suit came out the door, saying, "Mr. Fowl, you may see the bird now. Please follow me."  
He smirked slightly, amazed at their gullibility. They had actually believed that he was a young, fifteen-year-old ornithologist, (someone who studies in the bird branch of zoology) wanting to do research on the rare falcon. Artemis followed the scientist, glancing briefly in each passing room. She arrived at a stainless steel door, entered the key code, and the door slid open. They walked inside and the door closed shut behind them, and he scanned the room carefully with his cold blue eyes, resting his gaze briefly on each surface, until it came to the cage; the bird was beautiful. It had shining black wings, they shone like obsidian, and it gleamed with hints of gold.   
The bird cocked its head to one side with a questioning chirp when he saw that Artemis was watching him. The woman walked over to the cage and carefully unlocked it, setting out her gloved hand. The bird hopped onto it, and she drew the majestic eagle out of the steel cage, holding it to Artemis, and he asked, "May I?" The lady replied,   
"Certainly, but be careful with him, he sometimes gets scared easily." He slipped on his own glove and held out his hand, and the bird obeyed, jumping from the scientist's hand to Artemis' gloved one. He reached up with his free hand, and although hesitant, stroked the bird's breast gently, receiving a contented chirp. The woman smiled, and turned to work on something else. As soon as she had turned her back, Artemis felt around under the bird's wing for a good sized feather, and, gripping it by the base, pulled hard. The bird let out a loud, indignant squawk, and the feather came clean out. The scientist whirled around, trying to calm the injured bird, but it was of little use. Artemis immediately hid it behind his back, slipping it into his back pocket and covering it with his coat. The bird flapped his wings, and jumped, alighting on the top of his cage. He carefully preened the spot where the feather had once been, and glared (can birds do that??) at Artemis, who acted innocent when the woman turned to him after the bird had calmed, saying, "Well, I don't think Obsidian will want anymore visitors today, sir. Please leave." Artemis shrugged.   
"Thank you, I guess. Good-bye."   
"Have a nice day, sir."   
He turned and walked out the nearest exit, where Butler was waiting for him. Artemis sighed upon getting in and buckled his seatbelt. "Butler."   
"Yes, Artemis?"   
"Now I've got all three," he said, pulling out the black golden eagle's feather from his pocket and showing it to the manservant. Butler drew in his breath and said, "Now what do we do?"   
"We wait."  
  
A day after Artemis had collected all three items, a letter came, with the same initials, T. S., and in silver, the letter.  
It read,  
  
Fowl,  
Thank you for retrieving the items for me, but before you ask me who and where I am, so as you might give me them, you must answer me this riddle:  
  
What was once a tree, but no more,  
It opens and closes, but it is not a door.  
It says many words, but never talks,  
It goes around the world, but never walks.  
What is it?  
  
When you have a suitable answer, seeing as you are of so high intelligence, seal it in an envelope and set it outside by the forest at exactly 11:59 pm tonight, no later or it will pass. Go back inside and do not look back, close the door and wait until twelve ten. Look outside, and you will see a letter. Retrieve it and read the chant aloud, and an eagle will appear before you. It will wait for an hour, and you will have to pack all the things you need for a four hour's trip, including the three items, and give it to the bird, he will leave. Then you may resume with whatever you happen to be doing at the time, whether it be sleeping, writing, or computer hacking. Oh, and do not bother to give this to the LEP, they will know soon enough.  
Regards,  
T. S.   
  
Artemis smirked. He loved riddles, and this one seemed especially challenging, albeit a simple one. He wondered how they could know about him giving the previous letter to the People, but shrugged it off, picking up a pen and paper and writing something down. He laid the pen back down and folded the paper up carefully, slipping it inside an envelope and writing A. F. in neat, cursive writing on the front, sealing it up. He set it by the door and strode into the kitchen, grabbing some caviar from the refrigerator and heading back up to his study to gather the things he would need for the journey, it was already ten thirty. 


End file.
